She completely blitzed the Women’s Full Marathon (42km) field at the 2XU Compression Run today. As a result, professional Kenyan athlete Noami Wambui, 29, finished the race in a stunning time of 2 hours 57 minutes 44 seconds – and her effort was a full 32 minutes ahead of her second-placed competitor in the women’s category.
Award-winning and talented Kenyan athlete, Naomi Wambui
I interviewed Noami, who comes from Thika Town, which is an industrial town in central Kenya, and asked her about her win and her secrets to success in running.
To find out what Noami said, do read on.
What did you think of your win?
I expected to win today. But I definitely didn’t expect to come more than half an hour ahead of the second-placed winner. So I am quite surprised by that.
How long did you take to acclimatise to the Singapore weather for the race?
I only took two days to adjust because I just arrived yesterday from Kuala Lumpur. But I actually found the race in Singapore very hot compared to what I am used to. Also, I thought the course was quite tough and uneven, not like some of the routes in Malaysia or India.
What is your personal best for the marathon like?
My marathon personal best is 2 hours and 53 minutes. I completed this race in 2 hours and 59 minutes, so it is quite near to my personal best.
What’s your secret strategy to your success?
Basically, my strategy is about training hard. I do mainly long runs and speed work to train for the marathon.
I train in the mornings at around 10am and I do around 20km to 30km in about two hours and below. Sometimes I may train in the evening though. I train six days a week and take Sundays off.
I also do some intervals twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for speed work.
What marathons have you run recently?
Recently, I have done the Penang Bridge marathon (on 17 November 2013) and then ran the Macau Half Marathon (on 1 December 2013).
I am planning to run in China next. I have not yet confirmed my registration though. That would be a half marathon I am doing and it would be at the end of next month.
For each race, how long do you usually take to train for it?
That would be for around two months per race. So I do a race roughly every two to three months. Sometimes though, you get so many races happening at the same time and you just want to run in everything!
When did you actually start running?
I started running when I was in high school but that was for recreational purposes only. I chose to go into running full-time and started training professionally to enter races once I finished high school.
Click Here for my experience at the 2XU Compression Run.
Click here to read about South East Asia’s fastest marathoner, Mok Ying Ren’s bid at the Half Marathon World Championships!
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